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MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin today offered what appeared to be his strongest support yet for US presidential candidate Donald Trump - without explicitly naming him. "We are carefully watching what is happening in the United States and we, of course, view with sympathy those who publicly state that it is necessary to build a relationship with Russia, on basis of equality," he told journalists at a briefing shown on television.

Vatican City (AFP) - Increasingly isolated by the West, Vladimir Putin will hope to find a friendly ear in Pope Francis at their meeting Wednesday, but experts say the Russian President may have misjudged the mood.

Following the release of greatly embarrassing emails that are forcing Hillary to lose control of the narrative, Politico reports, The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe into the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails. We are sure Director Comey will be closely watching and AG Lynch will once again take his word as gospel as somehow, we suspect, a narrative of Trump-Putin partnership will be created (or at the very least questions raised).

Max Rossi/ReutersLUCCA, Italy — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized nations met in Italy on Monday, looking to put pressure on Russia to break its ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

WASHINGTON — For much of the summer, the FBI pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the U.S. presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead — which they ultimately came to doubt — about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank.

His nation is a smouldering ruin, much of it held by rival armed factions, domestic or foreign. Half the population is displaced, hundreds of thousands have died and much of the West regards him as a tyrant and human rights abuser. But Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to have survived the war and is likely to hold onto power for the foreseeable future.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin says he can understand Canada’s concerns about Arctic sovereignty, but the Canadian stance on Russian involvement in Ukraine is far harder to accept.
Putin took questions from senior representatives of international wire services, including The Canadian Press, at a meeting in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
He says there is room for compromise in discussions about who owns what in the Arctic, and he points to Russian talks with Scandinavian countries as a model.